Carleton’s Regional Carls Program

The Carleton Business Book Club

Thursday, May 3, 2012
7:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.

Panera at Sherman & Church Streets, Evanston
(tables outside the meeting room)

The Hidden Connections in Today's Economics

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime?

These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask, but Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives -- how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of ... well, everything.

What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and -- if the right questions are asked -- is even more intriguing than we think. Freakonomics can redefine the way we view the factors that influence our businesses and our lives.

Join the Carleton Business Book Club at its May meeting to discover new connections in the economic world.

This month’s book -Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (2009)

You are welcome to invite friends to read the book and participate in the conversation, Carleton alums or not. For more info: Don Rawitsch ’72.  If you need assistance, contact the Alumni Relations Office at 800-729-2586 or alumni-office@carleton.edu